Do you ever find that you open your work-in-progress document and keep reading back over what you wrote in the last session? Perfecting every sentence and making sure the flow is just right?
I’ve been there, done that, and got the T-shirt. I’d win the prize for perfect prose every time, but it’d take me an age to get there. In fact, I’d be lucky if I got the writing out the door in time for the competition deadline.
Read on to learn the process I’ve used with hundreds of writers to help them get their writing finished in time for their deadline and to make sure it’s good enough.
How to meet your writing deadlines, by separating thinking, writing, editing and proofreading.
Write an outline (or if you’re firmly in the anti-outline camp, then skip straight to step 2).
Get the content down. Don’t worry about getting the perfect flow at this stage, or stopping to find the perfect reference to back up what you are saying. Just get the IDEAS down.h
Edit for structure. At this stage, you’re editing for the macro-level, or ‘big picture’ structure. Are the ideas in the right place? Does the argument/ storyline follow logically?
Edit for style. This is where you can edit on the paragraph and sentence level. Make sure the paragraphs flow from one to the next (and internally) and that your writing flows between and within sentences. Now’s also the time to find that perfect word or metaphor to explain a concept.
Leave your writing to sit. Preferably leave your writing to sit for 48 hours and do something totally different. Take a walk, go for a swim or catch up with a friend.
Proofread your final piece. Now is the time for proofreading. This is where you catch all those pesky little typos and punctuation errors. If you can, get someone else to help with this stage. The best writers don’t proofread their own work.
Should I tell my PhD supervisor I’m trying to get pregnant?
This question – posted anonymously on Twitter recently by a third-year PhD student – really got me thinking about my own PhD journey.
I had my first baby in my second year of my PhD and my second two years later, but it wasn’t in spite of these ‘blips’ that I finally managed to finish writing my PhD (too many years later), but because of them.
Macmillan Higher Education Study Skills Blog: What Motherhood taught me about writing.
As I learned to stop chasing perfection, embrace small pockets of time and surround myself with writing friends, motherhood taught to be a better, faster and happier writer.
Who doesn’t love the feeling of ticking things off the ‘to-do’ list?
Get the kids to school. Tick.
Hang the washing up. Tick.
Answer emails. Tick.
Ring the library. Tick.
Write the article. This one will probably go on tomorrow’s ‘to do’ list.
Sound familiar?
The truth is that long ‘to-do’ lists don’t necessarily get us closer to the big goals. It was only when I ditched the painfully detailed ‘to-do’ list that I finally finished my 80, 000 word thesis, published a number of articles, successfully pitched my first book and got commissioned to write blog posts.
What if the secret to productivity isn’t doing more, but doing less?
What if ditching your ‘to do’ list might bring you closer to your goal?
The opposite of busy is not relaxed but focused
Tony Crabbe, in Busy: How to thrive in a world of too much, writes about how the “The opposite of busy in today’s world is sustained, focused attention. It is deep engagement in activities that really matter to us, or in conversations with those we care about.”
The problem with ‘busy’ is that it gives us the illusion of being productive. We cram every spare moment with commitments but none of these bring us closer to our big dreams.
Workout first thing. Breakfast meeting at 8am. Four different clubs to take the kids to during the week. Add to that every meeting that arrives on our calendar. Spanish lessons on a Thursday. Park run at the weekend. Drop the washing at the dry cleaner. Pick up supplies for the weekend outing. Post the birthday cards. Phone the window cleaner. Phew, I’m exhausted just reading that. Can you relate?
When we are constantly switching from one task to the next, we never really give ourselves the time to be truly immersed in one task.
In Deep work, Cal Newport writes about the importance of focusing on one task for a longer stretch of time. Specifically, deep work refers to “activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits.”
Some isolated long periods of time to work on these deep tasks are good for us.
Deep work is in contrast tonon-cognitively intensive tasks which are low-value and easy to replicate. Think responding to emails, scanning websites, and using social media.
Practicing a minimal ‘to-do’ list can give us space to practice focussing on the activities that really matter.
If we don’t put the small things on the list, they will get done anyway (if they need to get done)
What if you don’t need to bake cakes for your sister’s birthday party and bought cakes will be just as good? What if you don’t need to take the car for a valet every six months or ever?
Do you really need to dust the pictures (actually, this is something I’ve never done, and I’ve got passed worrying what the in-laws think when they come to visit).
You may need to negotiate with someone in your life to lower expectations about what really needs to be done or what needs to be done by you. This may be your boss, it may be a spouse or parent, but it could actually be you.
Do you know what can be more exhilarating than crossing things off the ‘to-do list? Realising that they don’t actually belong there in the first place.
The truth is we can’t do everything. If writing is a priority, we need to decide what we are going to cut from our ‘to do’ list in order to give ourselves the time to write.
A year from now,the small things on the ‘to-do’ list won’t matter, but the big things will
Let me get this clear here. When I’m talking about the small things here, I really am talking about the small things. Not the small things that are really the big things (like having an extra cuddle with your kid/ dog/ in the morning before you get up), but the small things that really are trivial—ironing the sheets—does anyone actually do this anyway?
Picture yourself a year from now. What would you like to have achieved by then?
Will it have been taking the car for a valet three times? To have sorted through your 50,000 digital photos? Organised your inbox into folders (my friend, there’s a search function on the email for a reason—and don’t even get me started on inbox zero).
Or are your goals more likely to be:
Sent off your proposal to an agent? Written three articles for publication? Finished the first draft of your ebook?
These last three are all TOTALLY doable. Wherever we are now. If we prioritise them and take the small things off the list.
If you don’t have a ‘to-do’ list, you will do the big stuff first
While I find it helps me to have a list of smaller things to do so that I don’t waste brain power thinking about them, I find that if I don’t look at my small things ‘to-do’ list first thing in the morning, it’s easy for me to get started on the important things first.
If it’s important enough then you won’t forget it.
You will remember to do the big stuff first.
The truth is we can’t do everything. If writing is a priority, we need to decide what we are going to cut off our ‘to do’ list in order to give ourselves the time to write.
So while you might not like to ditch your ‘to do’ list entirely, you might like to think very carefully about what makes it onto the ‘to-do’ list.
If something is important enough anyway, you’ll remember to do it.
Today, I decided to try not using any to do list. And do you know what happened before breakfast? I wrote this post.
In sum, we achieve more by doing less. Focus more. Work less. Get more done.
Try it: just for a day. I dare you. Ditch the ‘to-do’ list.
Grab your free get writing done download for more tips and tricks on how to integrate writing into your busy life.
Leave a comment. What have you found you can live without putting on the ‘to do’ list?
Please note, I will get a small percentage of the price at no extra cost to you if you decide to buy books using the links in this post.
It can be frightening to publish our writing. Putting something out into the world can make us feel exposed. And we worry about what the critics are going to say.
Do you get a chill when you hit publish or send an email to your list?
Watch this talk from Brené Brown, expert on courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy, to understand why it’s not about winning, it’s not about losing, but it’s about showing up and being seen. It’s about stepping into the arena.
Brené Brown
We can’t ensure that the critics won’t be in the arena when we step out into the world*.
But we be sure there’ll be shame (I feel humiliated), scarcity (it’s not original), and comparison (she did it better).
We don’t need to stop caring what people think. But we do need to show up.
And we need to remember that the critics aren’t the ones who count.
Are you ready to step into the arena?
*Here’s the Theodore Roosevelt quote Brené references:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
― Theodore Roosevelt
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